JOHANNA BORDEWIJK - ROEPMAN EPILOOG FOR ORCHESTRA (1943)
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Epilogue for orchestra (1943) Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman wrote the Epilogue for orchestra in the period from April through June of 1943.The extra information the composer provides is interesting: Voorstudie voor ‘Plato’s dood’ (Prequel to ‘Plato’s death’). With this Epilogue she anticipated the approximately 75-minute composition she would write six years subsequently, the Symphonic poem ‘Plato’s dood’ for reciters, soloists, mixed choir and grand orchestra to lyrics by her husband, the writer Ferdinand Bordewijk (1884-1965). The dedication reads: “To all who empathized with us throughout the winter 1947-1948”, referencing Ferdinands severe illness during that period. From this concise information we can surmise that the couple had been planning to write on the theme of Plato’s death for a long time. It is curious that the Epilogue, essentially a postscript, was written first. Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman uses important themes from this composition for her later symphonic poem.
The single-movement Epilogue consists of four subsections that follow one another without interruption. The composition opens with a slow introduction based on a severe, somewhat bashful theme (A) that initially is performed respectively by the cello, viola, second violin and the first violin in combination with the flute and oboe. Following a short development of this theme, the pulse accelerates and the second subsection starts with a new theme (B) in the oboe which is elaborated vivaciously. Just before its end, as a reminiscence, the introductory theme A suddenly appears in the cello, then in the bassoon and finally in the double bass and cello. In the third subsection the character changes: a swaying 6/8 measure slowly evolves into a lively scherzo, which leads to the fourth subsection in which the themes A and B reappear. However, Bordewijk-Roepman now changes the order. The B-theme doesn’t differ that much in character from its first presentation. The tempo gradually accelerates and prepares for the return of theme A, this time not severe and bashful in the strings, but broadly and gloriously as a triumphant march in the woodwinds and brass, while the strings accompany with rapid motion. Wouter Paap, the most famous Dutch music journalist in the middle of the last century, writing in 1946 in his magazine ‘Mens en Melodie’ (human and melody), deemed this Epilogue to convey an optimistic longing for the war to be over quickly: “From this music, which upon reading the score gives the impression to be deep of sound and colour, speaks an impatient longing to be released from the psychological pressures of war. This composition, with its powerful current, will undoubtedly sway emotions in the concert hall forcefully.”
The autograph of this composition is currently located at the Nederlands Muziek Instituut in The Hague.
Lourens Stuifbergen (translation: Luc den Bakker)
Johanna Suzanna Hendrina Roepman was born in Rotterdam on August 4, 1892. She had piano and singing lessons and sang in a children’s choir up to the age of sixteen. She was interested in fine arts as well, but ultimately, she chose for music. In her family’s view, music was only part of a good upbringing and couldn’t be a serious profession for a girl. So she studied English instead and was an English teacher until her marriage to lawyer and writer Ferdinand Bordewijk. They met in October 1911, when he had just graduated with a law degree. They married in 1914 and had two children. In 1919, she completed her first piano composition and music set to Rie Cramer’s poems for children, Mijn eigen tuintje (My own garden). Although she spoke negatively about her lack of formal music education, she was brought up with some key characteristics. She was enterprising, spontaneous and couldn’t care less about conventions. Johanna was not indifferent to the negative criticism that she received for a long time. Later she mentioned the great difficulties an autodidact experiences in comparison to formally trained artists. In 1935, she decided to take lessons from Eduard Flipse, conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the leading orchestra for contemporary music in the Netherlands at that time. Johanna had just started working on her Concerto for piano and orchestra when war broke out in May 1940. In the spring of 1941, Jewish orchestra musicians were fired and the deportations began in July 1942. Non-Jewish musicians were required to join the Kultuurkamer by April 1, 1942 at the latest, otherwise they could no longer practice their profession. Both Johanna and her husband refused, despite pressure to do so. Johanna hated the “German hangers-on,” referring to the opportunists in the music world. She and her husband organized private concerts and literary evenings in their home, the proceeds went to the artists’ resistance group. Their home in Bezuidenhout was bombed on March 3, 1945. They narrowly escaped. Household goods, works of art, books, musical instruments, manuscripts and scores, all their belongings were destroyed.
Source: Leo Smit Foundation
Image Credit: Leo Smit Foundation
